WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. 119 



being repeated three or four times, the d still accented, but with diminishing emphasis. 

 I think it might be readily written in musical notes, but I am unable to do so." 



"Notwithstanding the slighting manner," writes Dr. T. M. Brewer, "in which the 

 song of this bird is spoken of by some writers, in certain parts of the country its clear, 

 prolonged, and peculiar whistle has given to it quite a local fame and popularity. 

 Among the White Mountains, where it breeds abundantly, it is known as the Peabody 

 Bird, and its remarkably clear whistle resounds in all their glens and secluded recesses. 

 Its song consists of twelve distinct notes, which are not unfrequently interpreted into 

 various ludicrous travesties. As this song is repeated with no variations, and quite 

 frequently from early morning until late in the evening, it soon becomes quite mono- 

 tonous. 



"Among the White Mountains I have repeatedly found its nest. They were always 

 on the ground, usually sheltered by surrounding grass, and at the foot of bushes or a 

 tree, or in the woods under a fallen log. In that region it retained all its wild, shy 

 habits, rarely being found in the neighborhood of dwellings or in cultivated grounds. 

 But at Halifax this was not so. There I found them breeding in gardens, on the edge 

 of the city, and in close proximity to houses, apparently not more shy than the common 

 Song Sparrow. 



"The nest of the bird is usually, if not always, on the ground, but in various 

 situations, as I have found them oji a hill-side, in the midst of low underbrush, in a 

 swampy thicket, at the foot of some large tree in a garden, as at Halifax, by the edge 

 of a small pond, or in a hollow and decaying stump. Their nest is large, deep, and 

 capacious, with a base of moss or coarse grasses, woven with finer stems above and 

 lined with hair, a few feathers, fine rootlets of plants or soft grasses. The eggs vary 

 from four to seven in number. Their ground-color is of a pale green or a greenish-white, 

 marked over the entire egg with a fox-colored or rusty -brown. Occasionally these 

 markings are sparsely scattered, permitting the ground to be plainly visible, but gener- 

 ally they are so very abundant as to cover the entire egg so closely as to conceal all 

 other shade, and give to the whole a deep uniform rufous-brown hue, through which 

 the under color of light green is hardly distinguishable. They measure .90 X .68 of 

 an inch." 



The White-throated Sparrow is an abundant summer sojourner in northern Wis- 

 consin. According to Mr. A. J. Schoenebeck it is a common summer resident in Oconto 

 Co., where he frequently found the nest. While making a trip through the woods with 

 the late Mr. B. F. Goss, on June 8, 1892, he found two nests in a swamp on the ground. 

 They were situated in bunches of moss, and one was entirely covered with moss except 

 on one side. These nests were mainly built of moss and lined with fine grasses. Each 

 contained four eggs, averaging .88X.64. 



The White-throated Sparrow is an excellent bird for the cage. I kept several for 

 years, in Chicago as well as Texas. Near the West Yegua Creek I caught them in a 

 "figure of four trap" in the woods, where they were occupied during the whole winter 

 in silently gleaning for food among the dead leaves. They lived perfectly in peace with 

 other Sparrows, and their appetite was easily satisfied. Seeds of all kinds, and in 

 summer a mixture of Mockingbird-food and crated carrots and half ripe millet and 



